AIM North America Comments on USDA Supply Chain for the Production of Agricultural Commodities & Food Products

Dedicated to developing interoperable technical guidance and standards.
 
June 23, 2021 – Pittsburgh, PA – AIM North America (AIM NA), the premier alliance for the automated data capture technologies industry, including barcode, RFID, IoT, NFC, and RTLS, submits comments on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) request for commentary Supply Chains for the Production of Agricultural Commodities and Food Products.
 
The call for comments came after a Presidential Executive Order (EO) on “Americas Supply Chains” which directed several agencies to secure and strengthen America’s supply Chains. The USDA sought comments on a department-wide effort to improve and reimagine the supply chains for the production, processing and distribution of agricultural commodities and food products. 
 
AIM NA’s comments address one of the most significant challenges to achieving actionable and reliable food supply chain information that drives resilience and transparency; the absence of a clearly defined minimally viable product data set of critical tracking events and key data elements. AIM NA believes clear examples of what and how information is shared using automatic identification and data capture technologies will help eliminate errors and drive adoption.
 
“AIM NA supports USDA’s focus on resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains to help ensure U.S. economic prosperity and national security,” stated Jeanne Duckett, who serves as the AIM NA Board and Food Supply Chain work group Chair, along with her role at Avery Dennison in Transparency Initiative Development. “The Executive Order (EO) looks to enhance the accessibility, availability, and quality of critical goods and materials underlying agricultural and food product supply chains.”
 
AIM NA’s comments noted the following key points:

• Capacities of the US including food processing and safe distribution.
• Gaps in domestic manufacturing capabilities.
• Address risks posed by climate change and climate benefit.
• Address the visibility of natural, market, economic, geopolitical, human-rights risks.
• Develop domestic supplies workforce capabilities and strengthen market transparency.
• Review on the Government-wide effort to strengthen supply chains,

 
 Read our final comments and contact AIM NA with any questions.